Charles Peters

Determined to fail Did you know that for 18 months after we defeated the Taliban in December, 2001, the United States-led coalition deployed no peacekeepers outside Kabul, according to David Rohde of The New York Times, leaving the security of provinces like Helmand to local Afghans? Rohde quotes Richard Haas, the former director of policy […]

Lessons from TR Karl Rove recently wrote an essay for Time magazine on the lessons to be learned from the life of Teddy Roosevelt. One lesson was not mentioned by Rove. Roosevelt not only served in the Spanish-American War, leading the famous charge up San Juan Hill, but offered to serve in World War I. […]

One of my favorite columnists, Molly Ivins, points out that after roundly condemning Democrats as a bunch of cut-and-run sissies, the administration proceeded to announce its own version of cut and run when Gen. George W. Casey Jr. unveiled his plan to reduce the number of combat brigades in Iraq from 14 to five or […]

How did Kyle “Dusty” Foggo–who recently left the CIA under a cloud of suspicion about his relationship with his pal Brent Wilkes, a featured player in the bribery indictment of former Congressman Duke Cunningham–impress Porter Goss enough to get himself made number three at the intelligence agency? According to The Washington Post‘s David Ignatius, who […]

Why do the bills from the Pentagon for Halliburton’s subsidiary, KBR, always seem on the high side? In the case of the company’s contract to restore oil services in Iraq, the explanation is not difficult to understand. Under the terms of the contract, writes Griff Witte of The Washington Post, “KBR earns its profit as […]

It now develops that reports of major flooding from Homeland Security personnel in New Orleans were ignored by the department’s Washington headquarters because the people staffing it were watching television: “In the French Quarter on television, they were dancing and drinking beer and seemed to be having a party,” Gen. Matthew Broderick, then the director […]

When I wrote last month about the explosion of lobbyists during the 1970s, I wish I had known a statistic that subsequently appeared in Washingtonian magazine. In just the three years between 1972-1975, the number of the capitol’s lawyers doubled. In the 30 years since, the number has doubled twice more, but never has the […]

You will recall that Lawrence Lindsay, President George W. Bush’s first chief economic advisor, was reprimanded and ultimately fired for daring to suggest that the Iraq war could cost as much as $200 billion. The latest estimate of the actual cost–from no less an authority than the Nobel economist Joseph Stiglitz: $2 trillion. Some friends […]

If you doubt the Bush administration’s commitment to the welfare of private business, consider the recent deal the Department of Labor made with Wal-Mart. It promised to give 15 days advance notice before inspecting for child-labor violations. You can see the scene now: Sam, we gotta hide these kids. Actually, considering that it’s Wal-Mart, it […]

If you needed a little pre-Katrina warning that all was not well at the Department of Homeland Security, consider its proposal, announced in August, to permit airline passengers to carry ice picks and knives less than five inches in length. Of course, a four-and-three-quarter inch penetration between your ribs would do no harm at all. […]